Saturday, January 28, 2012

Crazy for snickerdoodle cookies? Well, when I saw this recipe for Snickerdoodle Bread that caught my attention big time. Knew this would be in the mixing bowl very soon. So this fine day, it happened! Classic cookie goes to a sweet, sugary bread. This is a keeper for sure. I got this recipe from Barbara at Barbara Bakes and this isn't the first that I have baked from her blog. Probably not the last either. Go check out her blog. She has a lot to offer. So, let's get baking. I got two loafs and will keep one and wrap the other well for the freezer. Check out the pictures, see all those chips, crackly top. ........Thanks Barbara Happy Baking, Andi

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1 package Hershey's cinnamon chips (package says 1 2/3 cups)

2 Tbsp flour

Topping:

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

In a small container mix these two together, this will be sprinkled over the top of the bread before you bake it.

In a large bowl add the flour, and baking powder and using a whisk, mix these ingredients together and set the bowl aside.

In your large mixing bowl add the butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon and mix til light and fluffy. Mix this a couple of minutes. Scrape the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. And the vanilla and the sour cream and mix. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. Coat the cinnamon chips with the 2 tbsp of flour and stir into the batter.

Prepare your bread pans (9x5) with grease and flour or line with greased parchment paper. Divide the dough between two loaf pans and sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a crack in the center of the load comes clean. Remove from oven allow to cool for a bit then remove to a cooling rack.

You could also use the mini loaf pan adjust the baking time. Barbara indicated she used the mini loaf pans (5 3/4 by 3 1/4x 2 1/4) and filled no more than 2/3 full and baked them at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Cookies, Chocolate and Peanut Butter! Can't think of anything much better than that. This recipe comes from Laura who's blog is Real Mom Kitchen. She visits a cookie shop called Over the Top Cookies, in Utah. They take regular cookies and cover them with other yummy stuff. Laura likes their Peanut Butter Cup Collision and went home and came up with her home made version. Good job. These cookies are over the top. It would be difficult to eat just one. Laura suggest they are best eaten on the same day or the next. I wouldn't know, they were sent to CB K with Mr. Dick. Gone! But a big thank you to Laura for another wonderful cookie recipe. Happy baking everyone. Andi

3/4 cup butter, softened1 cup sugar1 cup brown sugar2 large eggs2 tsp vanilla1 tsp baking soda1/2 tsp salt2 1/2 cups flour*1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips32 mini Reese's Peanut Butter cups, each cut in 4 piecesUsing your stand mixer, add the softened butter, along with the sugars and blend until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time along with the vanilla. Mix well.In another bowl add the dry ingredients and whisk together to combine. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the creamed butter mixture. Stir in the chips.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out the size cookie you want, I use my small ice cream cookie scoop. It holds about 2 Tbsp of dough. I pressed the ball down a little. Bake until almost done, remove from the oven and lightly press about 6-8 pieces of the cut up Reese's into each cookie. Return to the oven for a couple of minutes. The timing will depend on the size of each cookie. Allow to set on the cookie sheet for a little then remove to a cooking rack. * Variation: you could use M&M's mini or regular in place of the Reese's. Print Recipe

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

South of the Mason Dixon Line cornbread may be a staple but north of that cornbread is just darn good. This recipe is made with light brown sugar that added a little different taste to the bread. They suggest adding the frozen corn but not having any in the house I made the bread without. Taste great to me.

I didn't use the frozen corn, so I didn't use a food processor to pulse the corn, brown sugar and buttermilk.

What I did was combine all the dry ingredients and whisk this together. In another bowl I combined the eggs which you will mix with a fork then add the buttermilk and mix. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the mixed egg/buttermilk mixture. Fold this into the dry ingredients just enough to combine the two. Then add the melted and cooled butter and continue to fold until all is just moistened. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes clean. About 25-35 minutes. Cool for a bit then invert onto your serving plate. I have a quiche dish that I usually use for making cornbread. Then I cut in wedges and serve with a lot of butter.

Monday, January 16, 2012

It's cold and burr in Maine, with temps below zero.... this Taco soup hit the spot this weekend. It's so easy to make, if you can open a can then you can make this hearty, tasty soup. What else do we expect from Paula. It's delish, do you like chill? If so then you would enjoy this soup. It make a hugh pot serves 12-16 people, made in the crock pot so what can be easier. The page reviews were postive for the soup, so I made the ingredient list and off to the market I went. I also tried a new recipe for cornbread made with light brown sugar. This will be my new go to for both the taco soup and the warm corn bread. Happy cooking my friends..............Andi

Garnish:Corn chipsSour creamGrated cheeseChopped green onionsPickled jalapenosServes 12 -16 peopleBrown the ground beef along with the 2 cups of diced onions. Drain the fat then transfer to a large stock pot or a large crock pot. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. If using the crock pot allow to cook on low for 6-8 hours. If using a large stock pot cook over low heat for about 1 hour. Use the garnish to your finished soup and enjoy................

Saturday, January 14, 2012

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. Mix this well, this is what you will roll your cookie dough balls in prior to baking.

In a large bowl add the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar. Whisk this together and set aside.

In your stand mixer add the shortening or butter (room temperature) and sugar and mix till light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix. Add the flour mixture slowly and continue to mix until combined.

Roll the dough in balls and cover each with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375 degrees. Bake the cookies until light brown on the edges about 10 minutes. This will depend on how large you have made the dough balls. Remove from oven allow to stand on the cookie sheet for a little bit then remove to the cooling rack. Enjoy

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Another cookie with a surprise! Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies, yup, recipe calls for a box of instant chocolate pudding. A week ago I made a sugar cookie with instant pudding it in, to my surprise, a wonderful sugar cookie recipe. I mailed the cookies to my brother in Florida. He loved them, and a keeper recipe for me. Then I see he posted on facebook " they are all gone". They arrived in shape, still edible and resembled a cookie. Good news for the sugar cookies.

Todays chocolate chip cookies are just as good. They are crisp on the edge, soft and chewy on the inside. Pour a glass of milk and grab a few cookies and enjoy.

1. mix the flour and the baking soda together with a whisk and set this bowl aside.

2. In your large bowl add the softened butter along with the sugars and blend until light and fluffy.

3. Add the pudding mix and the vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.

4. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to combine all the ingredients. Add eggs one at a time and mix.

5. Add the flour and continue to mix. Scrape to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the chips and the nuts and mix one more time.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or use un-greased baking sheet. I used my cookie scoop that holds 1 1/2 Tablespoons of batter. I had 8 mounds on each sheet.

The first batch of cookies I just used the cookie scoop and placed the mounds on the parchment paper and baked. The cookies didn't spread as much as I wanted they were more like slightly flattened golf balls, so the next batch I then carefully broke each of the mounds in half exposing rough looking cookie dough. Its like twisting the cookie open and gently pressing it together leaving the exposed area open. Then lay it on the baking sheet and bake your cookies. This time they spread during baking and were flatter the way I prefer a cookie. I like big cookies!

Bake the cookies at 375 for about 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the cookie mound.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

This is a quick fix when time is running short. You need something fast. Everyone will think you worked hard putting those wonderful warm and moist muffins out on the table. Keep it a secret, they will never know they are eating a muffin from a box. It's a old family secret recipe.....................Enjoy

This recipe makes 12 muffins. Spray your muffin pan with Pam spray or line it with paper liners.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a medium bowl add the muffin mix, milk, sour cream, oil and the eggs. Stir this mixture only until combined and all is moistened. Add the grated or finely cut apple and the carrot and stir this in. Using a spoon or a ice cream scoop divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the streusel powder evenly over all the batter in the muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for about 16-20 minutes. Remove from oven when the toothpick inserted almost in the center comes away clean and allow the muffins to rest for a short time. After about 5 minutes remove them to a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Moist, light and buttery yellow cake. Love it, with a thick icing that is chocolate fudge on top. Let's get baking..........these cupcakes were made for Pat's birthday on New Years Eve. Happy Baking, Andi

2. Add the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

3. In your stand mixer add the butter with the sugar and cream this until light and fluffy. Add the yolks one at a time, and mix after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract.

4. Alternately add the flour and the milk to the creamed butter and mix just enough until blended. Start with the flour and end with the flour.

5. In another bowl beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and beat until they form soft peaks.

6. Fold a small amount of the egg whites using a spatula into the cake batter. Then add the remaining and continue to fold by hand until all is incorporated into the batter.

7. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans or using the ice cream scoop, scoop even amounts of batter in each cup liner. Place ice cubes in the unused cupcake sections.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-18 minutes. Keep watch over them so they don't over bake. Cook until a toothpick inserted close to the middle comes out clean. My oven has a tendency to be hotter. Prepare the chocolate icing. Adjust to the consistency that you desire. Since I used a decorator bag to pipe the icing it is a little stiffer then if I was going to hand frost the cupcakes.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

I love Paula Deen, In my wildest dreams could I be "Andi Deen" of the North? Here is a Chicken Noodle soup that came out wonderful, the best I have ever made. I sure will be making this again and again. Go to the store and get all the ingredients to make this. I am sure you will enjoy this on a cold winters day in Maine, sick or not who doesn't like hot chicken noodle soup. It's time again for the "Crazy Cooking Challenge" with Tina. This month's pick is go out into blog land and find a Chicken Noodle soup. I had seen Paula's soup on a blog so off I went in search for it. It was found on the blog "Becoming Betty" yahoo. This is the best soup...trust me.... Happy Cooking Andi

In a large pot add the chicken cut up in pieces. Add all the other ingredients and cook the chicken for about 35-45 minutes. Remove the chicken to a platter and allow to cool. Using a spotted spoon remove as much of the onion as possible and the bay leaves. You should have about 3 quarts of stock left. When the chicken is cooled pick those bones until clean. Discard the skin, bones and cartilage. Set the picked chicken aside.

Bring the stock back to a boil, add the carrots and cook for 3 minutes, add the celery and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes. Add the egg noodles and cook according to the directions on the box. After the noodles are done per box, add the picked chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add the Parmesan and the cream and cook for another 2 minutes. Enjoy the wonderful Chicken Noodle Soup ..............

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I love cookies, so here is another Cookie recipe......Sugar cookies with a secret....Instant vanilla pudding. These cookies come from Anna, who has a blog called "Cookie Madness" I peek around her blog often, its all sweets! These cookies melt in your mouth, they have a velvet texture from the powdered sugar . The secret of the vanilla pudding enhances the vanilla taste. Anna says they are they best and I agree. I will make these again for sure. The dough is easy to work with, no chilling needed, no rolling, just mix the dough and bake them off. They are light, chewy and crisp on the edge. The recipe can be cut in half, half all the ingredients and use 1/3 cup of the vanilla instant pudding. I used a variety of sprinkles to clean out the cupboard of these half empty bottles. I used up about 5 bottles. But, the prolbem is later that day I was at the market and for 50 cents a bottle they were selling all the christmas and halloween sprinkles, you got it, I came home with 6 new bottle of sprinkles..........I need to get these out of the freezer and in the mail to brother Dicka. I am going to attempt to mail my brother these cookies. His favorite cookie is a sugar cookie. Hopefully, he will get these in two days....that they arrive in one piece or at least resemble a cookie, and edible. He can share with my niece, Crystal and Mike and the 3 little ones. Enjoy and happy Baking. Andi

Wrapped in plastic wrap then placed in the bags for mail service to brother Dicka

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter, oil and the sugars. Mix till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and the dry pudding mix and mix again.

In another bowl add the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. Using your whisk, mix the dry ingredients well. Add this gradually to the stand mixer and mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper. You can drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets, or roll in 1 1/4 inch balls and place on parchment paper or un-greased baking sheets and press down with your fingers then add the sprinkles.

I used my cookie scoop that holds 2 Tbsp of dough and then rolled the top and sides in the sprinkles and placed on the parchment paper baking sheets. I did not press the cookies down. They baked into the puffed up rounds and started to fall during the cooking process. They fell beautifully into round cookies.

Bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes. Just watch them, when they are just starting to turn light brown on the edge remove from oven. Allow to stay on the cookie sheet for a little then remove to the cooling rack. This will make about 6-7 dozen cookies depending on the size of the dough ball.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Hi my name is Smokey, My Aunt Andi and Uncle Dick are taking care of me while my daddy is recovering from major surgery. Look what my Auntie made for me. Yummy, Yummy dog bones! They are very good I have already done the taste test. I approve, and Auntie says she is going to make me ice cream very soon, I scream for ice cream.......
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Preheat oven to 350 degreesBlend the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add the oil and mix. Beat in the eggs, honey and water to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough on a floured bread board until smooth. Roll to 1/2 inch thick and cut in squares or cut with into dog bone shapes. I used a 2 1/2 inch dog bone cookie cutter. I got 53 bones. I baked them at 350 for about 22 minutes. Bake according to the size of the cutter.